1786 Gubernatorial Election: Hancock vs Bowdoin 3
THE FOLLOWING CONTEST, SCHEDULED FOR ONE TERM IS FOR THE 1786 MASSACHUSETTS GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION! INTRODUCING FIRST, THE CHALLENGER. HE IS THE FORMER GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS AND IS NOW THE PRESIDENT OF THE CONGRESS OF THE CONFEDERATION, JOHNNNNN HANCOCK!
AND HIS OPPONENT. HE IS THE GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS...JAMESSSS BOWDOIN!
In local & national news, John Hancock was out as governor but he was in as President of the Confederate Congress on November 23rd. Richard Henry Lee was the representative from Virginia in the Continental Congress and he was the president from November of 84 to Hancock being named. Guess John's gout cleared up enough for him to take the mantle.
Most of the national politics at the end of 1785 into 1786 were peace treaties with local Native American tribes. Too bad for the natives that there was a 19 year old kid studying law in North Carolina named Andrew Jackson that didn't think much of those treaties as time went on, but that's a story for another day. Unfortunately New Hampshire Declaration of Independence signee William Whipple died on November 28th at 54 years old. Then in January of 1786, New Hampshire President (there wasn't a federal one yet) Meshech Weare passed away at 72 years old. Pour one out for Meshech and Willy!
Things went south almost immediately after James Bowdoin took office in 1785. All the federal laws for hard currency and to collect unpaid debt in the wake of the Revolutionary War were largely ignored by Hancock. Bowdoin wasn't so diplomatic when it came to that department. He immediately called for hard currency which we've mentioned in previous videos as to why it was a bad idea. Then he started to encourage the tax collectors to get those debts by any means necessary. Naturally the Massachusetts citizens in the city didn't think too much of it since it barely impacted their wallets, but the rural citizens where hard currency is pretty much useless didn't take too kindly to that. The truth was Bowdoin stood to lose the most as a merchant if his goods weren't worth as much due to the low valued currency. This created the very first divisive election in Massachusetts history. It was the rural vs the city as the 1786 Gubernatorial Election came closer. The rural civilians desperately tried to convince President of the Confederate Congress John Hancock to come back to the Governor's seat. The problem was Hancock was gone for so long, Bowdoin had his foot on the Massachusetts economy. Once again, as a merchant himself, other merchants were making money because of his implemented taxes & currency. Hancock agreed to run but in name only since he had other duties as a national congressman. This created a weird election as not many people knew Hancock was running because of his duties in Congress but Bowdoin wasn't exactly well liked either. It all depended on who was paying attention. Who would win? Let's find out.
The result? ITS A LANDSLIDE! In a shocking turn of events, not many people voted for Hancock at all. Bowdoin's stranglehold on the Massachusetts economy were making local merchants a lot of money and the fact of the matter was, he was just doing his job. Hancock didn't even campaign, he essentially just said vote if you wanted to. You could argue Hancock set a precedent by not collecting taxes and not going to hard currency that anyone else couldn't possibly follow. Hancock had the money and the power to tell the federal government to go live in a tree, but anyone else couldn't. Bowdoin managed to get 6,001 votes which was good for 82 percent of the vote. Hancock garnered just 1,272 votes for 17 percent of the votes. Write-ins amounted for the remaining 1% but the fact was, Bowdoin had won.
Bowdoin crushes Hancock
Trouble was brewing though. You could argue Hancock didn't run as aggressively as he had in the past because he still had his finger on the pulse of the common man. He didn't want to be the one to tax and charge his own citizens or else he'd be seen as the bad guy. You could also argue the citizens voted for Bowdoin because a lot of them simply believed in a strong central government. Whatever the facts were, the situation was about to explode in a monumental clash that ended up effecting the impending United States Constitution, but that's a story for another day. As for now, Bowdoin was still the governor.
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